Article carriers or so called roof racks are popular as a useful accessory for motor vehicles. Such roof racks commonly include spaced apart supporting or side rails secured to the roof of a motor vehicle extending longitudinally of the vehicle and have article restraining bars or cross rails extending therebetween. Usually, these restraining bars or cross rails are adjustable in spacing therebetween on the supporting side rails so as to enable varying size articles to be restrained therebetween or tied thereto.
In such cases, the restraining bars or cross rails will have members on the ends thereof interfitting on opposite ends thereof with the support or side rails in sliding engagement, and will include fastening means to secure the restraining bar or cross rails in a given position with respect to the side rails.
A typical arrangement includes an assembly of four stanchions which support the side rails a given distance above the roof of the vehicle. The side rails are generally an extrusion a guideway therein and means are provided on the ends of the restraining bars interfitted into these guideways. Means will also be affixed to the restraining bars or cross rails at either end thereof to in some manner clamp the restraining bars to the side rails in a preselected position. The fastening means in some cases include devices operated by an Allen head wrench and in other cases include a locking cam. Varied and diverse locking mechanisms have been proposed.
These known article carriers generally comprise many parts, require secondary assembly operations particularly in the clamping mechanisms and are not easily assembled to the roof of an automobile.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a new and improved article mounting structure for the roof of an automotive vehicle which is easy to manufacture and install on such vehicle and requires no secondary assembly operations, but only the assembly of a minimal number of pieces to provide the complete structure.